Gemotions

The phone felt heavy in Emily's hand, the screen reflecting her worried face. The Instagram account, full of glamorous photos and cryptic captions, was clearly her daughter, Chloe. But this Chloe was a stranger.

Her breath hitched as she kept scrolling. The carefree teenager she knew was replaced with someone posing in ways that made her skin crawl. Each picture seemed a betrayal, a carefully constructed illusion.

She felt a hollowness in her chest, a sense of falling, like she was plummeting into a dark abyss. She wanted to throw the phone against the wall. Instead, she slowly lowered it and pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to ward off the growing headache.